Hannah Coor hit a game-tying home run in the eighth inning and Ava Kuszak knocked a two-run bomb in the bottom of the 10th, and the No. 1 Nebraska softball team defeated the No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks at the NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Friday night.
Nebraska is now 52-6 on the season with a 27-game win streak. The 52 wins tie the program record for the most wins in a season. The game marked NU’s first win in the WCWS since 2002 and the first WCWS-opening win since 1987. The Huskers are now 75-58 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Tonight was the Big Red’s second extra-inning game of the season.
Kuszak logged two RBIs while Coor, Samantha Bland and Bella Bacon accounted for the other runs batted in. Bland contributed two hits, while Hannah Camenzind added a double.
Jordy Frahm (21-4) earned the win in the circle, as she threw 133 pitches across all 10 innings and allowed only eight hits and three runs. She struck out nine batters and walked only one.
Arkansas broke open the scoring with a two-run shot in the top of the second inning.
NU struck back and tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, as Jesse Farrell and Kacie Hoffmann hit back-to-back singles and Farrell scored on a Bland single. Kennadi Williams, who pinch ran for Hoffmann, crossed the plate on a Bacon groundout RBI.
The Razorbacks took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth on an RBI single, but Coor tied it up at 3-3 in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to center field.
The two teams went scoreless in the ninth before Coor was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the 10th and Kuszak knocked her two-run shot to lock up NU the 5-3 victory.
The Huskers will face the No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, May 30 at 6 p.m. (CT).
